Fake reinforcement - What's the point??

[PEB14]

At the end of the "Grainville Chateau" mission from the Scottish Corridor, I was surprised to discover that I had 255 men OK while in fact barely 75 were still standing on their feet… I had a look at the mission with the editor and discovered that @Paper Tiger had created reinforcements that were design to never enter the game.

For the AI side I klnow the trick: you create fake reinforcement in order to avoid the AI side to surrender too early.

But what's the point for creating fake reinforcement for the player's side ??

My only guess is, it has to do with refit and resupply issue in between missions. Any clue?

[Combatintman]

It might have something to do with how the core units file for the campaign was structured and the designer had to leave elements of certain units off the map in order to include the ones he needed.  Anyway - I'm sure P-T will be along at some point and explain.

[Artkin]

I guess the units that are set as reinforcements but arent present will experience the same refit percentages as the other units in the scenario. 

[Ithikial_AU]

It could also be something very small that appears, like a jeep or isolated HQ unit. Some designers have used the function to pass along a pop up msg to the player at a specific point of the scenario. For example: "Main body of reinforcements 5 mins out".

[PEB14]

6 hours ago, Ithikial_AU said:

It could also be something very small that appears, like a jeep or isolated HQ unit. Some designers have used the function to pass along a pop up msg to the player at a specific point of the scenario. For example: "Main body of reinforcements 5 mins out".

Clearly not the case here.

 

12 hours ago, Artkin said:

I guess the units that are set as reinforcements but arent present will experience the same refit percentages as the other units in the scenario. 

That's what I suspect indeed.

And as a campaign design beginner, I was wondering how refit/resupply etc. does work practically. @Ithikial_AU certainly can provide a definitive answer. Let's imagine a campaign with three core units (A, B and C). Say I am playing scenario 1 with core units A & B only. In scenario 2, only unit A does appear. Do refit parameters that are set between scenarios 1 & 2 :

- 1) apply only to units that appear in scenario 1 (A & B)?

- 2) apply only to units that appear in scenario 2 (A)?

- 3) apply to all core units, wether they appear in scenarios 1/2 or not (A, B & C)?

 

If the answer is 1 that's a clear reason for the "fake reinfocrcement", as this is the best way to refit and resupply units that play in the next scenario.

[Ithikial_AU]

23 minutes ago, PEB14 said:

Clearly not the case here.

 

That's what I suspect indeed.

And as a campaign design beginner, I was wondering how refit/resupply etc. does work practically. @Ithikial_AU certainly can provide a definitive answer. Let's imagine a campaign with three core units (A, B and C). Say I am playing scenario 1 with core units A & B only. In scenario 2, only unit A does appear. Do refit parameters that are set between scenarios 1 & 2 :

- 1) apply only to units that appear in scenario 1 (A & B)?

- 2) apply only to units that appear in scenario 2 (A)?

- 3) apply to all core units, wether they appear in scenarios 1/2 or not (A, B & C)?

 

If the answer is 1 that's a clear reason for the "fake reinfocrcement", as this is the best way to refit and resupply units that play in the next scenario.

This has always been a confusing part of the campaign design process and IMO not the best defined part of the instruction manual. I wasn't around behind the scenes when the CM2 engine was being developed so unsure of the development intentions at the time. I've always strongly assumed it was option 1) from the list but not aware of of any definitive test of answer being stated on the matter.

If the original intention was that all core units are buffed whether they appear in the scenario or not then that had to of fallen away pretty quickly as designers immediately used the system to jump back and forth between multiple core units being split up and appearing in separate scenarios but affecting a joint final outcome. The CMBN - CW Campaign "The Scottish Corridor" springs to mind as a clear example.

I'd be surprised if it was anything but option 1.

There were some changes in CM2 Update 2 or 3? That altered how reinforcements worked. Initially if the script had a 10% value assigned then there was a 10% chance that the entire unit would be replenished back up to full strength. Now it's a flat 10% replenishment across the core units but not exceeding full strength. Far easier for campaign designers to plan for now and helps them set the narrative between scenarios. 100% replenishment is the unit going off the line for some time and getting a period of rest, refit and replacements. A 10% replacement is a nice way to reflect some time has passed between engagements and a small number of the casualties have been tended to by the medics and able to be patched up enough to fight again.